Copyright Notices

First, I know that repetitive posts are disfavored. I am very, very sorry if I already posted the following question. I simply do not remember if I posted this question to this web site, or to another web site, and I do not know what mechanism I can use to ascertain where all of my posts are. I am a technological Neanderthal.

My question:

I like to place copyright notices on my work to protect my interests.

However, I once read that one should not place a copyright notice on oneís work, before one transmits oneís manuscript to prospective agents and publishers, because the mere act of placing a copyright notice on oneís work is seen as crass, or disrespectful or impolitic.

Should I place a copyright notice on work I send to prospective agents or publishers, or should I refrain from doing so.

The problem with submissions is getting them read, not getting them nicked. It's not called a slush pile for nothing; 99.999% of it is dreadful.

Don't hamper your chances by looking like a paranoid nutter, which is what stamping copyright notices all over it says. Agents/publishers who accept unsolicited work are inundated with material and are looking for reasons to discard it. Don't give them one.

("...no I'd rather be read and copied than go unread while protected..." ventured the goblin who in his anonymity rarely cared what anyone did with his posts, and besides to a livewriter the posts were dead by the time they were posted, adding "...get known and remembered is what I say, and then no one can touch you really...", where to post is to publish and where there were more readers reading posts than most anything else, adding "...your treadmill awaits you now, dare I admit that if you don't adapt you writings to your posts then you won't get much beyond these writers forums here for your obstinacy, so keep an eye on your hitcount, figure out your persona too, and just let your treadmill do the rest...")

("...if you want your book to be read, then narrate your work into an youtube audiobook as more and more readers are listening to audiobooks now..." suggested the goblin liking the wretched attorney and having enjoyed his posts to date, then adding "...truth is that those published books are all "a pig in a poke", and of course publishers are going to praise their own works, but what if instead of that unknown there, one puts "book1" up as an audiobook while holding "book2" back, then later when one has written "book3" one narrates "book2" releasing it, and so on, your sales are on the latest book, your publicity is on your previous books, and your track-record speaks for itself, without those publishers of whom most authors hate...", in fact, the goblin seemed to remember that when britain was the midst of fighting france, though admittedly the goblin hadn't been there at the time, someone had asked those present at dinner to raise their glasses to give to napoleon bonaparte a toast who although was the enemy had shot a publisher in a dual, to which the goblin asked in his turn "...if they're reading us directly here, and if one can publish directly too, then what is the role of the publisher in this day and age...")